Latest Florida state government News
Florida requires teaching Black history. Some don't trust schools to do it justice
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Buried among Florida's manicured golf courses and sprawling suburbs are the artifacts of its slave-holding past: the long-lost cemeteries of enslaved people, the statutes of Confederate soldiers that still stand watch over town squares, the old plantations turned into...
Young activists take on a government agency in a Florida climate lawsuit
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A group of young people in Florida say they believe the state’s continued reliance on fossil fuels is a violation of their constitutional rights and are suing the state agency that regulates public utilities in the hopes of forcing the energy companies to transition...
Florida lawmakers propose rolling back gun control laws passed after Parkland shooting
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Republican state lawmakers in Florida have filed two bills that would roll back gun control measures passed in the wake of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Even with a conservative supermajority in the Legislature, the...
Florida lawmaker's party switch increases Republican supermajority in the House
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — If last month's election wasn't painful enough for Florida Democrats, they're losing another state House seat after one of their members announced Monday that she's switching parties. State Rep. Susan Valdés, a former school board member who was...
Trump's Cabinet picks set off political chain reaction in Florida congressional races
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The field of candidates has been set for two special elections in Florida to replace members of Congress nominated for positions in President-elect Donald Trump’s new administration. Two dozen candidates have filed to run for the seats of outgoing Republican Reps. Matt...
DeSantis appointee says he won't help his elected replacement take office
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A state attorney in Florida told his staff he can't legally help his elected replacement take over his seat because Gov. Ron DeSantis had already suspended the Democrat from the office, according to an internal email obtained by The Associated Press. An...
Florida prosecutor seeks to clear records of people charged with buying police-made crack in 1980s
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida prosecutor says he will seek to vacate as many as 2,600 convictions of people who bought crack cocaine manufactured by the Broward County Sheriff's Office for sting operations between 1988 and 1990. The Florida Supreme Court ruled in 1993 that...
Florida's new state lawmakers may test DeSantis' influence in final years of his term
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s upcoming legislative session could test Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis ’ influence in the state, on the back of his failed attempt to challenge President-elect Donald Trump for the Republican nomination and as he considers his political future beyond the...
Trump picks Matt Gaetz for attorney general, Marco Rubio for secretary of state
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump chose Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to serve as his attorney general on Wednesday, bypassing more experienced options in favor of a loyalist who has built a national reputation as a disruptor and whom Trump has tasked with dramatically...
Prominent conservative lawyer Ted Olson, who argued Bush recount and same-sex marriage cases, dies
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson, who served two Republican presidents as one of the country’s best known conservative lawyers and successfully argued on behalf of same-sex marriage, died Wednesday. He was 84. The law firm Gibson Dunn, where Olson...
